Calan is a term in Altmeri culture that refers to a given person's entire bloodline, whether they are highborn or lowborn.
Usage[]
Calan has developed varying meanings depending on the context. For the most part it refers to one's bloodline, but it can also be used to refer to one's extended family (even relatives that belong to other Houses). For example, an Altmer saying "my entire calan attended the ceremony" would mean that their extended family attended a ceremony together, and not that their dead ancestors were present.
Culture[]
In the Common Tongue, a calan would translate to 'bloodline', or 'extended bloodline', and like many terms in Aldmeris the word calan is used only in certain contexts, as the Common Tongue has largely supplanted Aldmeris over the centuries.
A calan is distinct from one's House (if they are a noble) by the fact that calans include relatives and ancestors in other Houses. If a noble that belong's to his father's House wishes to trace his calan, his maternal ancestors would also be recorded. By its nature tracing one's calan can be an expensive task, as it requires identifying an exponentially increasing number of relatives that do not necessarily belong to one's House and may not even be prominent enough to have (m)any written records of them. As such, only wealthy lords tend to trouble themselves with tracing their calans, often dedicating a great amount of coin to the endeavour.